[4] Escape features a beautiful music format, described as "Easy instrumental arrangements of the great melodies of the past 80 years with a touch of vocal", and plays a music from such instrumental artists as 101 Strings, Hollyridge Strings, Henry Mancini, Chet Atkins, Bert Kaempfert, Franck Pourcel, Richard Clayderman, Ferrante & Teicher, Geoff Love, Jackie Gleason, Andre Kostelanetz, Paul Mauriat, and Percy Faith, as well as vocalists such as Andy Williams, Anne Murray, Barry Manilow, Perry Como, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and The Carpenters.

XM had previously featured the beautiful music format on Sunny, channel 24.

After the merger with Sirius in 2008, Escape started incorporating more vocal tracks into its playlist (to compensate for the loss of Sirius' more soft-AC based Movin' Easy channel), but these were quickly reduced after complaints.

As of February 9, 2010, DirecTV dropped Sirius XM programming in favor of SonicTap.

[4][5] The channel's creator, Marlin Taylor, veteran radio programmer for many stations and program syndicators such as Bonneville and known as "the father of the beautiful music format," retired shortly afterward.